Typical storage transport mediums provide for a relatively small number of devices to be attached over relatively short distances. One such transport medium is a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, the structure and operation of which is generally well known. High speed serial interconnects provide enhanced capability to attach a large number of high speed devices to a common storage transport medium over large distances. One such serial interconnect is a Fibre Channel, the structure and operation of which is described, for example, in Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling Interface (FC-PH), ANSI X3T9.3/Project 755D; Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL), ANSI X3T11/Project 960D; Fibre Channel Private Loop Direct Attach (FC-PLDA) Technical Report, Fibre Channel System Initiative; GigaBaud Link Module (GLM) Family, Fibre Channel System Initiative, FCSI-301; Common FC-PH Feature Sets Profiles, Fibre Channel System Initiative, FCSI-101; SCSI Profile, Fibre Channel System Initiative, FCSI-201; and FCSI IP Profile, Fibre Channel System Initiative, FCSI-202.
Conventional computing devices, such as computer workstations, generally access storage locally or through network interconnects. Local storage typically consists of a disk drive contained within, or locally connected to, the workstation. Access to the local storage device is through native low level, block protocols that map directly to the mechanisms used by the storage device and consist of data requests with no specific structure and no security controls. Network interconnects typically provide for access between a large number of computing devices and data storage on a remote network server. The remote network server provides file system structure, access control, and other miscellaneous capabilities. Access to the data through the network server is through protocols that map to the file system constructs implemented by the server and involve high level protocols. Consequently, from the perspective of a workstation or other computing device seeking to access such data, the access is much slower than access to data on local storage.